Compound hydrocarbon fuel



street PATENT JOHN P. JONES, OF GOLD HILL, NEVADA.

COMPOUND HYDROCARBON l-UEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 246,614, datedSeptember 6, 1881.

Application filed March 12, 1881. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN P. JONES, of Gold Hill, in the county of Storeyand State of Nevada, have invented a new and useful improvement whichrelates to the productionof fuel suitable for use in steam-boilerfurnaces, ranges, and domestic fire-places; and said improvementspecially consists in the formation of a composition of matter forproducing and sustaining full and perfect combustion of the whole of thecarbon contained in said fuel, whereby the greatest amount of heat andflame capable of being produced by the chemical union of the elementsenteringinto said composition is developed 5 and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthecomposition and mode of use of this my said improvement.

It has been long admitted that the combustion of fuel in furnaces andboilers has been very imperfect and incomplete, that economy in fuel hasbeen sacrificed, and needless expense in the production ofheatincreased. To remedy these defects,solid fuel, such as coal,'hasbeen reduced to powder and delivered or blown into the furnace, and airand steam, both open and superheated, have been employed as accessoriesto the ordinary supply of air through the ash-pit; and,further, thatfuel in the liquid form, as hydrocarbon oils, petroleum, and itsproducts, has been employed by means of various devices and apparatus;but none of these attempts have been found as yet wholly successful ineffecting the complete combustion of the carbon of the fuel, and hencethe full combustion value of fuel has not yet been attained; and hencethe combustion of coal or other carbonaceous fuel in stationary furnacesand in steam boilers, by the production of smoke, has become a nuisancein those neighborhoods where theindustrial processes requiringsteam-power or furnacing are carried on.

These objections are nearly if not wholly obviated by the use of thecompound which forms the subject of this specification, which consistsin the combination of a hydrocarbonliquid fuel, such as petroleum or anyof its derivatives, compounds, or distillates, with a pulverulent solidmaterial, whether of mineral or of organic nature. These substances areso form of a light powder, whose particles are so finely comminuted asto move or glide easily among themselves, so as to flow readily, likefine sand, and thusto produce a fuel which may be fed or blown intofurnaces, stoves, and other fire-places with the greatest ease and toany amount desirable.

The manner of making this compound is as follows: I take any givenquantity-for instance, one thousand pounds-of the solid element of thefuel, which maybe any finely-powdered solid of such chemical compositionas will, when heated up to 800 or 1,000 of Fahrenheits thermometer,either undergo decomposition and yield gaseous products which inthemselves are capable of supplying heat by convection to the body ofthe furnace, or to the walls of the steam-boiler or other suitablesurfaces, or if not so then that such substances when so heated up arecapable of becoming luminous and of developing heat by radiation, andthus by incandescence produce the most perfect combustion of the liquidwith which it is combined.

I preferably employ that form of silicious earth known as infusorialearth, kieselguhr, or fossil diatom clay-rock, which has the propertiesof lightness, porosity, and consequent capacityot' absorbing liquids sonecessary for the proper preparation of this compound. I place thisinfusorial earth in a large vat or suitable containing-vessel, havingpreviously reduced it to tine powder, if it be not by nature finelydivided. It is necessary that it be in an impalpable powder, and henceit is not always necessary that it be ground. The liquid hydrocarbon,such as petroleum, which I preferably employ, is then poured over, inthe form of a fine spray or in atomized condition, the silica in the vatin sufficient quantity, or until the whole mass of earth is fullysaturated and has absorbed its full quota of liquid, yet not so much asto leave any excess of hydrocarbon, so as to cause any portion of theliquid to accumulate in the lower part of the vessel in which thecompound is formed. Usually some time elapses before the solid powderhas absorbed its full complement of liquid, and this object can beaccomplished by agitation of the combined as to produce a solid body, inthe stated. When about these proportions have been used and the mixtureproperly efl'ected the pulverulent hydrocarbon fuel should present thefollowing characteristics: It is in the form of a light powder, whichdoes not readily moisten the hand on which it is laid; nor on pressuredoes it allow of any portion of the liquid being squeezed out. .Itsparticles move easily over each other, and can be delivered down aninclined plane, like any light dry powder.

When the fuel is not needed to be used at the time of manufacture itshould be stored in boxes, bins, or air-tight "essels in a coolsituation, as well for safety as for preserx'ation of the strength ofthe compound.

In making this article I do not confine myself to the use of theinfusorial silica before mentioned. Any other mineral substancepossessing the desired properties of absorbing liquids or of becomingincandescent will an swer equally well, and may at times be preferred.Thus asbestus or other fibrous silicious substance may be used, or I mayselect the caustic earths, as lime or magnesia, or their carbonates,which at times may answer equally well. Nor do I confine myself in theuse of powdered solid bodies to mineral substances only, since organicbodies, as coal or coke in fine powder, sawdust, or other Vegetablesubstance yielding carbon and hydrogen when ignited, may, for certainconditions of applying heat, answer equally well, since the object ofthis invention is a fuel compound in which a liquid hydrocarbon isretained by and within the mass of solid powder by capillarity oradhesion to its surfaces or pores.

The manner in which I preferably use the fuel thus prepared is todeliver it into the furnace or fire-box in a fine stream, as fed by ahopper or by a horizontal screw arrangement, through pipes at a pointwhere it is met by a blast of air or by air and steam in properproportions, and with such force that the whole of the carbon andhydrogen of the fuel may meet with a due supply of atmospheric oxygen,whereby they may be completely and quicklycony erted into carbonic acidand vapor of water, leaving no unconsu med carbon either to be depositedor to escape as smoke.

I am aware that solid fuel has been used in a pulverized form, and alsothat liquid hydrocarbons have been used in furnaces as fuel, either fedin alone by spray or otherwise in liquid form, and also that suchcombustion has been aided by air or steam jets, or both; but such I donot claim, not being of the nature of my invention; but

Vhat I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As a new manufacture, a pulverulentsolid fuel consisting of a lightpulverized solid impregnated with petroleum or other liquid bydrocarbon,and having the essential properties herein described.

2. A pulverulent solid fuel compound composed of infusorial siliciousearth united with petroleum or other liquid hydrocarbon, as herein setforth.

This specification signed and witnessed this ,12th day of March, 1881.

JNO. P. JONES.

Witnesses:

W. E. OHAFFEE, H. (J. HUNTEMANN.

